


Make New Friends, and Try Not to Kill Anyone

by Sparky_Young_Upstart



Series: Shelby the Vampire Slayer [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Vampire Slayer, Gen, Or Is It?, Vampire Slayer(s), Vampires, Watchers, everything is going to be okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-08 15:19:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5502602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparky_Young_Upstart/pseuds/Sparky_Young_Upstart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shelby Watkins has just started her sophomore year at Amber Beach High School. There's more drama than you'd expect lurking in these halls, but Shelby is determined to build a new social network around herself so as to not get overwhelmed by everything else that's new in her life. Still, there are some weird things going on in Amber Beach - things that Shelby may not be able to avoid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Match

The last thing Shelby wanted to feel when starting her sophomore year was like she was a freshman all over again. Actually, she felt worse. At least when she had started high school last year she ad some friends from grade school to hang out with. But here at Amber Beach high, there wasn’t anyone or anything she could grab on to to support herself. She was a fish out of water in nearly every sense, and it was not a fun feeling.

Her mom had given her simple advice for her first day: “make new friends, and try not to kill anybody”. Shelby was pretty sure she knew how to do the former - usually - and she also knew how to blend into the background when things weren’t going so well. Preferably it wouldn’t come to that, but the best way to keep that situation at bay was to just dive in and hope for the best. So she did.

Her best bet was to join a club. There were plenty of booths dotting the courtyard outside the school advertising all sorts of extracurricular activities. Skateboarding, art, even a palaeontology club. Shelby would pick that in a heartbeat, except the booth looked entirely deserted. She hung around near it looking to see if anybody was approaching it, but after ten minutes she figured it was abandoned. Focusing elsewhere, she saw what must’ve been the loneliest booth on the green. Chess club. If teen drama movies had taught her anything it was that only nerds joined chess club, but it seemed like not even they were interested here. There was one boy sitting behind the booth, looking despondent as people kept walking by without acknowledging him. Shelby took pity on the poor sap and decided what the hell, she liked chess almost as much as she liked dinosaurs.

“Hi!” she said when she walked up.

The boy there had to do a double take, shocked that somebody had seen him at all. “Uh...hi,” he replied. “This is, um, this is Chess Club.” He looked up at the sign he’d made, which had mediocre drawings of chess pieces surrounding the club title. “You probably knew that.”

“Yeah. I was thinking I’d sign up.” She stuck her hand out. “I’m Shelby.”

Riley took the hand and shook it. “Riley,” he replied. “Are you sure you want to join?”

Shelby smirked. “Obviously. This is basically smart people club, and that is the number one thing I try to advertise about myself.”

Riley chuckled. “Sounds fun. Nah, it’s just most people seem to be gravitating towards the chemistry club.” He glared over at the crowd surrounding the booth with a large paper maché volcano spewing ooze all over, as well as several other bubbling and smoking beakers.

“What about paleontology club?” Shelby asked.

Riley followed where she pointed. “Oh yeah, I have no idea. I saw a teacher set that up earlier, but I haven’t seen them since.” He shrugged. “They must’ve gotten caught up in something.” Then a sly grin spread across his face. “Or maybe she’s part of the mysterious disappearances across town.”

Shelby raised an eyebrow. “What? Disappearances?”

Riley laughed. “I’m just messing with you. Some of the kids like to spread rumours about people going missing around town, but I think it’s just an urban legend. Some people are just way too desperate to make things interesting.” He held up a pen. “But what’s genuinely interesting is chess club!” And he said it so endearingly that Shelby couldn’t help but crack up.

Shelby was the only other person who had signed the sheet Riley had, but he was fine with that since it was still enough people to play. They spent the rest of the lunch hour playing against each other as they talked about their lives.

Shelby had been a city girl for most of her life. She wasn’t hugely popular at her old school, but she had a good group of friends and most people liked her. Mainly she liked the rush it provided - running from taxis to subways and meeting in secret, hidden restaurants that were only advertised through word of mouth, and never seeing the same people twice unless you were looking for them.

Riley was almost the opposite - a country boy through and through, he’d lived and worked on his mothers farm for his entire childhood and only moved to Amber Beach a year before to start high school. Even though he was more of a brain than a farmhand he had preferred the tranquility of nature that one could get out there and missed knowing the name of everyone around him.

Most importantly, the two found that they shared several classes with each other - Gym, English, and Math. But right after lunch was when Shelby had art, and that was when they had to bid each other farewell - for now, at least.


	2. Art Schooled

Even though it was the first day of school, the art teacher put them to work right away. Nothing huge, just sketching something that they saw or did over the summer. Shelby drew a scene of her visiting Drumheller in Canada, but she knew that it was very _very_ rough. So much for hoping art would be an easy grade.

She glanced over at her neighbour’s paper and was blown away. It was the Grand Canyon - she knew it had to be because it looked almost _exactly_ like a picture she had seen of it. Yet the kid beside her was working wonders with that pencil, taking every mark and shade into account. Sometimes he would pause and take a step back, then return and somehow make it even better.

“Oh my god.” Shelby couldn’t help muttering under her breath, but it was loud enough that the boy heard her.

“Huh?”

She immediately blushed. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to - you are really good at that.”

The boy smiled and turned back to his work. “Thanks. I’ve been drawing for a while, so this is pretty much in my wheelhouse.” He glanced at Shelby’s easel. “Yours is...”

“It’s garbage.”

“It’s not garbage!”

“It’s kindling, dude.”

The boy frowned and moved to stand in front of it. “No, it only needs a few - hey, would you mind if..?” He motioned to the pad with his pencil. Shelby looked to the other side of the room and saw the teacher was preoccupied.

“Okay, but be fast.”

The boy nodded and quickly moved his pencil here and there across the pad. “See, if you add depth to it then it really starts to come to life...” Shelby was amazed. It wasn’t perfect, but this kid had somehow turned her child’s drawing into something almost worth hanging on a wall.

“You’re a miracle worker.”

“Nah, I’m just Julian.”

Shelby smiled. “I’m Shelby. I just moved to Amber Beach this year.”

Julian nodded. “Cool. From where?”

“New York.”

“Nice. They’ve got a pretty cool art scene there, don’t they?”

Shelby nodded. “Yeah, though I guess I didn’t pay a lot of attention.” She was trying to find spots in her sketch to improve on without undoing everything Julian had done. “I’m guessing you want to go some place artsy like that when you graduate?”

Julian nodded, smiling widely. “Yeah. New York would be great, but my dream is Paris.” He gazed into the distance. “Like, if I got something into the Louvre...man, that’d be amazing.”

The teacher came around and looked at their work. “Ms. Watkins, that looks very nice. A bit rough around the edges, but very nice use of shading.” Shelby and Julian exchanged a scheming look as the teach moved on to his work. “My, Julian, excellent as always.”

It seemed all too soon when the bell rang. As students were exiting the room, Shelby managed to hang back with Julian. “Hey, so I don’t know if you’d be interested or even have the time but I joined the chess club earlier today - ”

Julian raised an eyebrow. “Chess club? Isn’t that were all the nerds hang out?”

Shelby rolled her eyes. “Oh shut up. Chess is great and I’m already 50% of the club so I’m basically in charge.” Julian laughed at that. “Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like to stop by some time? You don’t even have to like Chess, you could just hang out.”

Julian paused to think. “I’d have to check and see. I’m already in a few other clubs.” Then his face lit up. “Oh! But if you wanna hang out - like, maybe after school even - there’s this place downtown called the Dino Bite Cafe? It’s a pretty cool restaurant and a lot of the kids from the high school hang out down there.”

Shelby nodded. “Well, I definitely need to figure out what the social scene’s like in this town. I’ll see you there!”

Julian grinned. “Cool!”

As she and Julian went in opposite ways in the hallway, Shelby mentally congratulated herself for making two new friends in the same day. As she made her way to gym class, she wondered why she was even worried about anything. So it took her by surprise when a sudden wave of nausea and fatigue passed over her.


	3. Bullet Dodged

Shelby stumbled and leaned into the wall, gaining some confused looks from people around her. Inside she groaned, wondering if she should have gotten more sleep the night before. If she became known as the chick that faints in the middle of the hall then she’d never live that reputation down.

She felt a pair of strong arms grip her shoulders and pull her up to her feet. Looking up, she met the gaze of a handsome dark-haired boy. “Easy now,” he said soflty. “You okay?”

Shelby took a breath and steadied herself. “Yeah,” she replied carefully. “Thanks.”

The boy smiled. “No problem. Do you need to go to the nurse’s or something?”

And all of a sudden Shelby was conflicted. This kind, hot guy had literally caught her as she fainted into his arms. While that might seem romantic for some people, Shelby found it incredibly embarrassing.

“Um, no, I’m - I’m fine. Thank you!” And she brushed past him and walked towards the locker rooms as fast as she could. Shelby could feel the boy awkwardly staring after her, but she was almost certain that he didn’t feel as awkward as she did in that moment.

By the time she had changed into her gym uniform she was feeling a lot more relaxed and steady. As far as she could tell nobody was giving her weird looks, which meant that news of her little spell wasn’t dominating the school’s gossip channels. Good. Hopefully it was just a one time thing. She saw Riley waving to her from the benches on the side of the gymnasium and smiled as she sat beside him.

“Hey Shelbs. Anything new since we saw each other an hour ago?”

Shelby shrugged. “Not much. Made a new friend in art, I’m gonna meet up with him at a restaurant tonight after school. Dino-something."

“Dino Bite?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. I went a few times last year, but never stuck around because I didn't know too many people."

"Well hey, you can tag along with me and Julian if you'd like."

"You sure?"

Shelby grinned. “Yes, please. I gotta surround myself with friends if I want to gain any kind of traction here.”

The coach blew her whistle and started sorting everyone in the room into teams for dodgeball. Riley and Shelby were lucky enough to end up together. After everything was sorted and the balls were set, another blow of the whistle set everybody running.

Shelby dashed towards a ball right in front of her and snatched it up. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted somebody else coming towards her and, with a quick snap of her arm, her ball went flying into the other person’s side. They skidded to a stop and dropped their ball. Shelby grinned internally - getting the first out of the game was always a plus. Over the next twenty minutes or so she was able to snag plenty of balls from the floor and shoot them towards the other team. The game was going too fast for her to notice, but she was hitting people out every time.

Then she felt something rocketing her way. She turned and saw another ball hurtling towards her, only a few feet out. Somehow she was fast enough to twist her body out of the way and extend an arm, snagging the ball and returning it to the sender in one fluid motion.

“Damn,” Riley said in awe. “You never said you were that good.”

Shelby looked at her own arm. “Yeah...” She had always been an athlete, but she didn’t think she was _that_ good at dodgeball.

A muffled cry broke her out of her thoughts, and she saw Riley stumble back as a ball slammed into his chest. “Dangit!” he muttered, before turning towards Shelby. “Avenge me?”

Shelby nodded. “No problem.” She grabbed the ball and spotted who had thrown it - gold headband. The boy must’ve realized what was coming, because he immediately panicked and started looking for a way out. Shelby wasn’t phased, and took careful aim. If he was going that way that quickly, then she had to throw it...

NOW!

_*SMACK*_

“AAAIIEEE!”

Listen, Shelby definitely did _not_ intend to throw the ball so hard that a jet of blood launched from the boy’s face when he was struck. She pulled her hands to her face in shock and ran towards him as the coach tried to shut the game down to attend to him. She slid down on her knees when she got close.

“I am _so_ sorry, I didn’t mean to - oh shit, that is a lot of blood...” The boy groaned softly, and the coach tried to help him up. “I never meant to hurt him, it was an accident!” Shelby continued.

The coach gave her a sympathetic look. “It’s fine, miss. This happens more often than you think. Just try to control the ball a bit more for next time.” She hoisted the blooded boy up over her arm. “Come on, Ivan, let’s get you to the nurse’s.”

Shelby nodded, still shaken. A few people shot her dirty looks, but most of them were staring after poor Ivan. Riley walked up to Shelby and put a comforting hand around her shoulders.

“Well...you sure showed him?”

Shelby frowned. “Shut up. I can’t believe I did that.”

Riley shook his head. “Oh yeah, I didn’t even think dodgeballs could do that much damage.”

That was the weirdest part. Yeah, maybe they could cause a nosebleed if thrown hard enough, but Shelby had played enough times to know that that was only when they were basically at point blank. Sniping somebody from across the court, no matter how hard the throw, couldn’t hit at enough force to hurt them that badly. So either the dodgeball was weird, or...

Shelby was weird.

...no. Nope, it had to be the dodgeball. She was not the fainting, nose-busting girl at the beginning of the year. She was Shelby Watkins and everything was fine, dammit.


	4. Success Dress

Shelby had basically emptied her whole closet trying to put together the "perfect" outfit for the night. Shelby, the girl who had never bought into the idea of cliques or popularity to really be consumed by it, couldn't help but panic over her potential social perception. It was bizarre and concerning, enough so that her mother couldn't help but come into her room and see if she could comfort her.

"What's all this?" She asked as she entered, amazed that her daughter even had that many clothes.

"Oh, just trying to find the right thing to wear tonight," Shelby replied as she held items in front of her.

"What's happening tonight? Some kind of shindig?"

Shelby shrugged. "More like a gathering. Any chance of kids go hang at a diner downtown and I want to make a good first impression."

Her mom raised an eyebrow. "I thought you already did a first impression at school?"

"No but this is the _real_ first impression."

Her mom walked over and took Shelby by the shoulders. "Honey, I love you, but I think you're overreacting a bit."

Shelby looked at her mom, then at the clothes piled all over her bed. She bit her lip. "I am, aren'tI?"

Her mom smiled at her. "Hey, I get it. I've been the new kid at school too. Hell, I'm going through it right now at work."

"But you seem so...calm. And sane. How do you handle it?"

Her mom shrugged. "I have no idea. Most of the time I feel like I need to be the most perfect version of myself so that they'll like me, and if not then I'll be ignored until I have to leave."

Shelby sighed. "Yeah, that's basically it. So what can I do?"

Her mom took a step back and observed her. "Well for one, your outfit is fine. If the people you meet really like you they won't care that you didn't change." Shelby goggles at that. "And second, go out to have fun. I know sometimes we can't help it but try not to worry bout what other people are thinking about you."

Shelby smiled and hugged her mom. "Thank you."

\----

Half an hour later she was pulling up to the Dino Bite Cafe in her pink keep, Riley in the passenger seat. The place was, in a word, booming. Inside it was packed with teens, and the parking lot even more so. People were just walking through the drive-thru, something the staff didn't seem too upset about considering the amount of business they must be getting. The parking lot was full, with plenty of people in or on top of their cars. At least three different stereoswere blasting, causing a weird cacophonous mashup of Beyoncé, Aerosmith, and Deadmau5 to form in the middle.

"Oh wow," Riley said in awe.

Shelby was grinning. "I know, right? This place is loaded!"

Riley shook his head. "No - I mean, yeah, but not that." He pointed to a figure standing neater the building. He had a backwards cap, a skateboard under one arm, and was talking with some other boys.

"Your crush, I'm guessing?" Shelby nodded with approval. "He's cute."

Riley groaned. "Yeah. Chase Randall, coolest guy in school, and he doesn't even know I exist."

Shelby walked to his side of the car and patted him on the back. "Well, maybe if we start socializing we'll make some waves."

Riley nodded. "Right. You said your other friend was gonna meet us here?"

"Yeah..." Shelby scanned the crowds. Julian's curly reddish hair was pretty hard to musk, but she couldn't spot him anywhere. "Hang on, I'll text him." She pulled out her phone and shot him a message.

_Hey, it's Shelby. I'm here with Riley. Where R U?_

*ding*

_I'm here. Check the woods behind the restaurant._

The woods? Weird, but considering how packed the rest of the area was it wasn't surprising thatsome kids might hang out in the woods. She grabbed Riley's arm and dragged him along behind her.

The woods looked sparse from afar, but when Riley and Shelby got in they found them to be pretty dense. Shelby thought she saw Julian in the distance, but it was too dark to tell. "Hello?" she called. "Anybody out here?"

"I am."

The voice made the two teens jump and spin around. When Shelby saw who it was, though, she breathed in relief. "Julian!" she giggled. "You scared us."

Julian smirked, and any relief Shelby had vanished. There was something...wrong about that smirk, a wrongness that felt the same as when she had felt faint and when she had thrown the dodgeball at Ivan. She felt Riley's grip tighten around her arm. Julian took a menacing step forward.

"Scare you?" he breathed. "That wasn't supposed to happen until I did this." And his face changed. His brow thickened and his eyes turned an ugly yellow. He opened his moth and revealed a pair of large, terrifying fangs.

And he pounced. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wait, whaaat?


	5. Tooth Ache

Shelby and Riley did the rational thing. They screamed and ran the fuck away. Too bad for Shelby that Julian was fast enough to grab the back of her shirt and throw her to the ground. In a flash he was standing over her.

"Sorry about all this. I really do think you're cool."

Shelby was backing away from Julian - was this monster really Julian? - in fear. "Th-that's nice," she replied, trying to hide her terror. "But why the sudden change in mood?" _And species_ , she thought.

Julian chuckled. "Good question. See, I showed up early to meet you here, and there was his other really cool girl here too. We got to talking, one thing led to another, and next thing you know she's feeding me her blood."

"Ew," Riley said from behind the bush he was using for cover.

Julian's head snapped in the other boys direction. He dashed over, lifting Riley up by his collar. "I beg to differ. You should try it, pipsqueak. I'm pretty sure you could benefit from being a vampire."

Shelby had struggled to her feet. "What? A vampire?"

Julian smiled that awful smile. "Oh yeah. It's great! I'm super strong, really fast. And I really _really_ want to eat you both." He brought Riley's neck close to his mouth. "I think I'll start with you."

Riley whimpered, but in a moment he was released as something collided with the side of Julian's head. The vampire turned to look at who had the audacity to hit him when Shelby punched him in the face again, then whirling around and kicking him down.

"Keep your nasty-ass teeth away from us," she snapped.

Julian snarled. "Fine! I guess I'll have to play with my food!" He launched himself at Shelby, and the two fell to he ground, wrestling with each other. Julian kept snapping at her, but Shelby was able to keep his head at a distance. She could tell that he was stronger than the average human, but somehow she knew that she was too. Something inside her told her she could fight him. That she had too.

But it didn't tell her how. Athlete or not, Shelby didn't make a habit out of wrestling bloodsucking demons, and Julian got the upper hand. He grabbed her by the throat and flipped her onto her back.

"Nice knowing you, Shelby."

Shelby saw Riley out of the corner of her eye. He looked hurt, but he was crawling towards her. He had something in his hand and threw it toward them. Landing near enough for her to grab, Shelby wrapped her hand around a thick branch and, on instinct, arced it around and impaled it through Julian's heart.

He let out a gasp and released Shelby. She breathed herself, wanting to scream, but it died in her throat as Julian...dissolved? Disintegrated? One moment he was there and the next he had turned into a fine powder and was blowing into nothingness. She started in horror at what had occurred, and wasn't snapped out of it until she heard another voice.

"Ow."

"Riley!" she cried as she stood up and raced to help her surviving friend up. "Are you okay? Anything broken?"

"Just my sanity." He looked at where Julian used to be. "I'm guessing he wasn't like that when you met him?"

Shelby shook her head. "Hell no. I have no idea what that was."

"He said he was a vampire. Looked the part, too."

"But that's impossible!"

"Not quite," a new voice said. For the second time the two jumped and turned towards he source. A blonde woman in glasses, a ponytail, and violet trench coat emerged from the trees. "He was a vampire. And you are Shelby Watkins, The Vampire Slayer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! It was a Buffy crossover all along! More to come later as Shelby's misadventures in slayage continue.


End file.
